At the November CAUT Council meeting, delegates passed a resolution calling on CAUT to support and promote the Canadian Union of Public Employees’ “Our Time to Act” Post-Secondary Education campaign.

The campaign, consistent with CAUT’s policy objectives, is focussed on building support for an increase in federal transfers to the provinces in support of universities and colleges. Campaign materials include an on-line petition, an advocacy tool-kit, and a conversation guide on post-secondary education issues.

November 2018

New video on Equity

While post-secondary institutions are publicly committed to equity and diversity, progress has been slow in achieving employment and wage equity for academic staff. This is why we need to keep talking about it and help towards real and significant actions and improvements.

The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) recently published a report on the lack of diversity on our campuses. We’ve also produced a short video explaining why we need to use all the tools we have to change the academy.

Watch the video and, most importantly, share it with your friends on Twitter and/or Facebook.

The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) has established an investigation into the case of Professor Derek Pyne at Thompson Rivers University to determine if his academic freedom was violated.

Dr. Mark Mac Lean (Mathematics) of the University of British Columbia will chair the investigatory committee. Carla Graebner (Librarian for Data Services and Government Information) of Simon Fraser University will also serve on the committee.

McGill violated academic freedom

An investigation into the controversial resignation of Dr. Andrew Potter from the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC) has found that not only did the University fail in its duty to protect Professor Potter’s academic freedom, but that its justification for his resignation has undermined the academic freedom of all academic staff at McGill.
The report, prepared for the Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee of the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), is calling on the University to develop policy to give full protection of academic freedom to academic administrators.
“The central academic freedom issue in this case arose from the McGill administration’s claim that academic administrators do not enjoy the same protections as academics without administrative positions,” says CAUT executive director David Robinson. “It is well understood that universities have as their fundamental commitment the search for knowledge and understanding. This requires an environment free from institutional censorship against any academic.”
The CAUT investigation found no conclusive evidence that the McGill administration put pressure on Professor Potter to resign as Director of MISC, but concluded such pressure would not have been inconsistent with the University’s belief in the conditional academic freedom of academic administrators.

This month in the bulletin

Many professors dread anonymous student evaluations of teaching (SETs). For too many of them, whether female, on contract, a member of an equity group or, worst of all, all of the above, less than stellar reviews could mean the end of their employment or a serious roadblock on their career path.

Parliament Hill Day a huge success!

This year, CAUT’s Parliament Hill Day had a two-pronged focus on lobbying for a strong federal partner that will invest in core funding for PSE, along with achieving balanced copyright legislation.

Forty CAUT delegates, collectively representing all provinces and differing segments of the membership, held nearly 50 meetings with Cabinet Ministers and other Members of Parliament and political staff on November 22nd — a great effort that deserves a huge round of thanks!

High-profile meetings included Minister Bardish Chagger, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, and whose riding contains the Universities of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier; Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party, who was very receptive to our ideas; and Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada.

Every single contact made by CAUT is extremely important in maximizing our presence and clout on the Hill, and delegates this year achieved new levels of relationship-building with important political figures, including meeting with several MPs who’d never previously done so with CAUT, and by revisiting old friends. On top of getting our messages across on funding and copyright, delegates identified several key influencers willing to champion our issues going forward.

Well done, and thanks again to all involved!

New profile

CAUT has a new information leaflet. Click here to for more information about the activities and services we offer.

Support academic staff at Athabasca University

Dear activist,

Colleagues with the Athabasca University Faculty Association (AUFA) are presently negotiating a new collective agreement, and their employer is demanding major concessions.

The administration is proposing a two-year wage freeze, and an aggressive set of language concessions. These concessions include a proposal to allow the administration to compel sick or disabled faculty members to submit to non-therapeutic medical examinations by company doctors if faculty members take “too much” sick leave or the administration does not believe the faculty member’s own doctor.

Please show your support for AUFA by tweeting directly to the employer with the message that we stand with our colleagues.
#AthabascaU president @NeilFassina board chair @vivianmanasc withdraw your company-doctor proposal for @AUFacultyAssoc #education #solidarity #abpse

McGill violated academic freedom

Dear colleague,

The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) just released the report of an investigation into the controversial resignation of Dr. Andrew Potter from the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC).

Professor Potter found himself at the centre of controversy in March, 2017 after writing a blog post for Maclean’s Magazine in which he suggested the response to a snow storm in Montreal was reflective of a “pathologically alienated and low-trust society” in Quebec. He later resigned his position as director of the MISC, with speculation that he was forced out.

Our investigation, led by Dr. Mark Gabbert of the University of Manitoba, found that not only did the University fail in its duty to protect Professor Potter’s academic freedom, but that its justification for his resignation has undermined the academic freedom of all academic staff at McGill.

The central academic freedom issue in this case arose from the McGill administration’s claim that academic administrators do not enjoy the same protections as academics without administrative positions. It is well understood that universities have as their fundamental commitment the search for knowledge and understanding. This requires an environment free from institutional censorship against any academic.

The report, prepared for CAUT’s Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee, is calling on the University to develop policy to give full protection of academic freedom to academic administrators.

If the University fails to do so, it is recommended that CAUT invoke censure proceedings against McGill.

We are asking member associations for assistance in identifying potential members for CAUT’s standing committees. We welcome names of CAUT individual affiliated or associate members you feel would be interested and who would bring expertise to the work of these committees. The composition, function, terms and procedures for selection of committee members can be found on the CAUT Website under each standing committee page. Committee vacancies will also be advertised in the CAUT Bulletin.

The deadline for nominations for members of CAUT Standing Committees is February 1, 2019.

We welcome recommendations of members of marginalized groups. These groups include but are not limited to Aboriginal peoples; women; racialized academic staff; academic staff with disabilities; and lesbian, gay, trans, queer and two-spirited academic staff.

Committee Vacancies

Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee

[Vacancies – 2]

Members of the Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee should have had considerable involvement in and knowledge about academic freedom. They must be sympathetic to, and have had experience in the defence of academic freedom and tenure, and they should be willing and available to dedicate considerable time to the work of the Committee between meetings, including promotion of academic freedom, drafting of documents, and other related activities.

Collective Bargaining and Economic Benefits Committee

[Vacancies: 3]

Members of the Collective Bargaining and Economic Benefits Committee should have demonstrated experience in collective bargaining. They should be able to commit time between meetings to the work of the Committee, including drafting of model clauses, development of policy statements and other related activities.

The Equity Committee is composed of two members of the following groups: Aboriginal academic staff; academic staff with disabilities; lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, trans, queer and two-spirited academic staff; racialized academic staff; and women academic staff. Members of the Equity Committee should have considerable experience in and commitment to the advancement of equity. Members should be willing and available to dedicate significant time between meetings to the work of the Committee, including drafting and editing policy documents, preparing advice for the Executive and Council, and other related activities.

Librarians’ and Archivists’ Committee

[Vacancies: 1]

Members of the Librarians’ and Archivists’ Committee should have considerable experience and knowledge of the professional interests and academic concerns of librarians and archivists at Canadian post-secondary institutions. They ought to be aware of policy matters pertaining to academic rights and working conditions of academic librarians and archivists. Members should be willing and available to dedicate significant time between meetings to the work of the Committee, including the conference planning, drafting or editing documents, responding to enquiries and other related activities.

Members of the Contract Academic Staff Committee should have considerable experience in and commitment to the advancement of the issues and working conditions of Contract Academic Staff. Members should be willing and available to dedicate significant time between meetings to the work of the Committee, including drafting and editing policy documents, preparing advice for the Executive and Council, and other related activities.

Six of the eight members of the Contract Academic Staff Committee are from the six CAUT member associations with the largest CAS membership. The other two members are appointed and ratified by Council to represent a small and a medium-size association. Both of those positions are vacant in 2019.

A list of the current members of CAUT standing committees is attached for your information.

NOTICE: This message is reserved strictly for the use of the individual or organization to whom it is addressed and it may contain privileged and confidential information. Access, copying or re-use of any information contained therein by any other person is not authorized. If you are not the intended recipient please notify us immediately by returning the message to the originator.

This is the final notice regarding nominations for OCUFA’s 2018 Lorimer Award. This award recognizes outstanding contributions to improving the terms and conditions of employment of Ontario university faculty through bargaining. It was created by OCUFA in 2009 in honor of Doug and Joyce Lorimer.

Attached to this email, please find promotional flyers in English and French which you can share with your association. Additional information, nomination forms and guidelines can be found at:

If you are a faculty member, you will have received this invitation to your inbox. There is a link in the email for you to RSVP. If you did not receive this invitation by email, but are a member, please contact the WLUFA Office at x3721.

If you are a faculty member, you will have received this invitation to your inbox. There is a link in the email for you to RSVP. If you did not receive this invitation by email, but are a member, please contact the WLUFA Office at x3721.

The OUCC, which represents almost 60,000 college and university educators, held a press conference today at Queen’s Park. The event was presided over by Chris Glover, NDP MPP.

The press conference was held in order to draw attention to the ways in which the Ford government’s claw-backs on Bill 148 — the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act — as well as the proposed implementation of Bill 47, will not only create set-backs for the many precariously-employed faculty in both the college and university sectors, but will also jeopardize many students’ ability to access education and to thrive once that education is completed.

Kimberly Ellis-Hale, a long-serving Contract Faculty member at Laurier, also spoke at the media event. Ellis-Hale serves as the Chair for OCUFA’s Contract Faculty Compliment Committee.